Robinette's attorney, Dane Ciolino, said he does not know why Heebe has not accepted the lot in St. Tammany Parish, but he said a federal investigation of River Birch is likely a factor.

"I'm guessing everything is bogged down in these investigations," Ciolino said. "Everybody is skittish about everything."

Billy Gibbens, an attorney for Heebe, did not return a call seeking comment.

Meanwhile, new details have surfaced about the loan, as well as two portraits of Heebe's children that Heebe paid Robinette $10,000 to paint.

'Sham company'

The loan from Heebe was funneled through Westside Construction Services, a firm owned by River Birch's chief financial officer Dominick Fazzio, who is accused of using the company to embezzle $1.2 million from another construction firm run by his brother-in-law.

It's not clear why Heebe did not simply loan Robinette the money directly.

Federal prosecutors in Fazzio's fraud case have said Westside Construction is a "sham company" that has never filed a tax return, failed to provide any work documents in response to a government subpoena and served solely as a "money laundering operation."

Ciolino declined to comment on the link to Westside Construction. Arthur "Buddy" Lemann III, an attorney for Fazzio, said Westside Construction is a legitimate business.

"It's registered with the secretary of state," he said. "It hasn't filed a tax return because it never earned any income. Whatever money went into it, went out."

Lemann said Heebe transferred $250,000 to Westside Construction, which, in turn, issued the loan to Robinette. He said he did not know why the payment was structured in this way.

"I can only assume that if, say, I'm a politician and I want to make a contribution to a controversial subject, I might make it through another conduit," Lemann said. "There's nothing illegal about it."

$10,000 for portraits

In another new disclosure, Robinette, an avid painter who used at least part of the $250,000 from Heebe to build a 400-square-foot art studio, was paid $10,000 by Heebe to paint portraits of Heebe's twin daughters. Ciolino declined to discuss the portraits.

Described by a Times-Picayune art critic as "an accomplished romantic realist," Robinette painted the 2011 Jazz Fest poster of Jimmy Buffett and has had his work displayed in various New Orleans galleries.

Robinette became a lightning rod for ethical questions about the apparent conflict of interest when the October 2007 payment from Heebe was disclosed by The Times-Picayune in September of last year.

The loan was made during the post-Katrina landfill wars as Heebe and his associates sought to shutter the Old Gentilly Landfill and the new Chef Menteur Landfill to increase River Birch's share of more than $175 million in disposal fees for at least 38 million cubic yards of hurricane debris.

From mid-2006 through mid-2007, Robinette frequently raised environmental concerns about disposing of debris at the two eastern New Orleans landfills on his "Think Tank" talk show.

In brief on-air comments during his first show after the loan was made public, Robinette said that he had "done absolutely nothing wrong" and that his coverage of the landfill issue was not influenced by the money from Heebe.

Property secured the loan

The $250,000 payment was a four-year interest-free loan that came due at the end of October, according to Ciolino, who has declined to provide a copy of the loan documents.

Ciolino said the loan was backed by a lot owned by Robinette's wife, Nancy Rhett, at 7 Riverdale Drive in Tchefuncta Club Estates, a gated community with a golf course near Covington.

In early November, Robinette signed documents to transfer the property to Heebe as repayment of the loan, Ciolino said. But property records indicate Rhett still owns the lot.

"Mr. Robinette tendered the property to Mr. Heebe, and we're still waiting for it to be accepted," Ciolino said. "I really don't know what the problem is."

Ciolino said he has had no discussions with Heebe or Heebe's attorneys about the property since it was tendered.

"It's one of those situations where we can tender it to them, but we can't make them take it," he said.

Records show Rhett bought the lot in late 2005 for $235,000. Various real estate websites indicate the wooded lot had subsequently been listed for sale for $248,900.

Unable to sell the property, the couple took it off the market and used it to secure the loan from Heebe, Ciolino has said.

The payment to Robinette was flagged in late 2010 by federal authorities investigating River Birch, which allegedly paid $460,000 in bribes to a former state official to lobby for closing Old Gentilly.

Robinette, who was questioned by investigators, has said he is "not a target of any investigation."